Trip to RSPB Arne

Sunday 29th December 2013 - what a fantastic day for birding with crystal clear, blue skies and wall-to-wall sunshine. Not even that cold either for the time of year! A trip to RSPB Arne, we felt, was way overdue and as usual it did not disappoint.

Thanks to meeting up with a friendly and helpful survey team from Birds of Poole Harbour, we were treated to great sightings of Avocet, Spoonbill, Grey Plover, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Red Breasted Merganser and more, through their awesome 50x Swarovski Spotting Scope. Must put one of those on my "must buy" list for 2014!

The scenery at Arne is, in my opinion, unparalleled in southern England with a fantastic and diverse wetland habitat, alongside breathtaking heathland which the RSPB work so hard to preserve. The reserve is about 3 miles from Wareham in Dorset at BH20 5BJ and well worth the trip.

Pictured (top left) is the view from Coombe Heath and a few pictures taken whilst we were with the Poole Harbour birding team, including some Oyster-catchers (middle left) in flight and a pair of Spoonbills (bottom left) who were feeding in the bay.

Spoonbills are rare in the UK with only small numbers visiting annually and Poole Harbour is one of the best places to see them in the UK.

The Sparrowhawk - A Ruthless Opportunist Killer!

After a year long absence a male Sparrowhawk turned up this morning, perched on our neighbour's roof eyeing up our bird feeder. It left empty handed, but it made us all aware of how cunning Sparrowhawks are in their search for an easy meal.

It looks like the same bird that visited in July 2012, as it has a ring on its right leg. Either these birds hunt within a very small area, or they have a very good memory as to where to find food! The Sparrowhawk is the ultimate opportunist killer of small birds. Whilst the female will take birds as large as wood pigeons, the smaller male would target smaller prey like blue tits.

Red Backed Shrike - Greenham Common

Incredible day! I got to see the Red Backed Shrike on Greenham Common this morning and this afternoon the sun came out which gave much better photographic opportunities after the disappointingly gloomy start to the day. The RB Shrike is a very rare bird which is on the RSPB Red List for endangerment, with (on average) less than 10 breeding pairs in the UK.

This particular Red Backed Shrike is a juvenile and probably a female. Apparently the adults head back to Africa first leaving the young to fatten up on bugs and beetles before they too leave for warmer climes in late September.

Quite a few birders were present this morning on Greenham Common and this stopped me from getting close enough for good pictures with my meagre 400mm lens. The other birders were all using spotting scopes and were clearly not keen on us photographers. The exception being a kind hearted couple from Bracknell who let me use their fantastic Leica spotting scope which offered amazing quality images.

Late this afternoon was much better for photography as the spotting scope brigade had all gone home and we had the opportunity to take some serious pictures! The Shrike was still showing really well in the same area as this morning - in the undergrowth to the north west of the Fire Plane. In reality you could carefully approach the bird quite easily without spooking it by hiding behind nearby bushes, so not sure what all the fuss was about this morning.

For those not familiar with Greenham Common, the Fire Plane is a very rusty metal aircraft frame used by the USAF to practice putting out aircraft fires. It is located on ground south west of the EPC Factory and Venture West buildings. It is only a 5 minute walk from the disused Nuclear Bunkers. The closest parking is at Venture West, Greenham Business Park - that is if you're not staying long as this parking area is really intended for employees working on the business park.

Chiffchaff on Migration?

I noticed a small bird hopping about and doing aerial acrobatics catching insects in our back garden this morning and it turned out to be a beautiful little Chiffchaff.

There are a few others in the hedgerows opposite today, so maybe they've had enough of the colder-than-average September weather and are heading south to their wintering grounds in the Mediterranean and western Africa.

We know some birds stay in the UK all winter as we've seen them particularly near rivers (Dinton Pastures by the River Loddon  being one place), where they feed off insects even when there is snow and ice on the ground.

Chiffchaffs are one of my favourite birds and have a wonderful soft yellow colour and are great to watch darting about. They can be confused with other small warblers, but you can distinguish a Chiffchaff by the "chiff-chaff" song which gives the bird its name and by it's black legs. Please write a comment to correct me on that if I am wrong!

Marsh Tit visits garden feeder

This friendly Marsh Tit stopped by this lunchtime to briefly visit our sunflower feeder.

The Marsh Tit is an RSPB 'Red Listed' bird and are not particularly common. We saw one yesterday in Bowdown Woods off Bury's Bank Road, so there are definitely a few in the Greenham area and this year looks like it has been a good one for them, with quite a few local sightings over the summer period. We think this particular bird may live in West Wood adjacent to our house.

Redstart at Dinton Pastures

A great bird sighting yesterday at Dinton Pastures, near Woodley, Berkshire - Three Redstart were seen at the far side of the car park field.

This is a first for me and after a great deal of patience sitting around, we managed to get the birds fairly used to us and approached a little closer to get a few decent pictures.

Apparently according to FOLL bird expert Fraser Cottington Redstarts start their migration in late August and through September and are regularly seen in this area each year.

Interview on Radio Berkshire

I took a trip up to Lardon Chase, Berkshire on Wednesday to take some pictures of the blue butterflies which favour the wild flowers of the Chalk Downland. I was lucky enough to spot a very rare UK butterfly - the Clouded Yellow which visits the UK from southern Europe in very small numbers some years.

This year, butterfly numbers seem to have recovered after last year's awful summer, and it has been a similarly good year in Europe where the Clouded Yellow has been seen in good numbers. The Clouded Yellow sighting was very exciting!

Sophie Larkins on Radio Berkshire

I contacted Radio Berkshire and was interviewed live on their popular 'Smartphone Safari' feature on Saturday morning. You can listen to the full interview (8MB MP3) or a cut-down version of the interview (5MB MP3) from this page (Media Player required).